Wichita eagle., 1887-04-05

ture greatness of st. Joe depends on ont
fact. and If St. Joe figures this out it cal
ascertain at what time it will enjoy de
gree of prosperity.
Missouri is crossing ground for people
| to reach destination-this and nothing
more. When Kansas fills up, when Ne
Nebraska i. populated and Iowa become.
dense-the backwater population in Kan
sas, the driftwood in Nebraska and over
flow in Iowa will, to fill vacuum, find {
home in Missouri, and Missouri will ther
become populous.
We have faith that Missouri will no.
have to wait very long for backwater
overflow and driftwood population as i
has waited-on its wonderful resources.
Be patient, Missouri, we are doing oul
best. Your frantic appeals may frighter
timid heart from Kansas, but it will never
create -Missourians are born
God makes 'em, .nd it is not for US te
question any more than it is any other mys
tery-The reason whereof we do not un
derstand
You forget, St. Joe, that you are In
Missouri; you forget that an eastern man
breads even to ride through your state.
that railroads are being built so as to
reach Kansas via Iowa and Nebraska,
without even using you for crossing
ground. You forget that the cities on the
eastern border of Kansas have felt, still
feel and will ever feel the blight Of your
deadly upas.
You forget that the time was when Kan
| sas had to trade in Missouri, because it had
| to have a market, but that time has passed
| Dever to return.
Chicago, St. Louis and New York are
now nearer us than Kansas City ever was,
and Liverpool is nearer than St. Joe.
We have bid farewell to Missouri as a
market and as place to buy.
The Santa Fe is going to Chicago; the
Rock Island is coming to Kansas, Tin fact,
is here) The Frisco and Missouri Pacific
are not Kansas City or st. Joe railroads.
Pray tell us, gentle shepherd, st. Joe,
what advantage we can have by going to
Missouri, other than being robbed on a
passing train All that once was yours is
now ours?
All that's now ours can never be yours.
Poor old Saint Joe You may well
struggle against the inevitable. 'Tis sad to
think that now in the "seer and yellow
leaf" soon you will be forced to apply to
yourself the poem dedicated to Persepo-
lis
lyon waste, where roaming lions howl,
YOn aisle, where mOans the owl,
Shows the proud Missourian's abode,
Where sceptersd once, an earthly god
His power-clad arm ruled each happier cline,
Where sports the muse and fancy Scars sub
blime.
"Oh, thou Troy of America, thou land of
Priam, We Thebes,
'Tis sad to feel ones self decay,
To feel thy strength wasting away.
And yet all that breaths shall share thy deS
tiny"
When we al e as old as thou art, st. Joe
almost it makes one dizzy to try and grasp
thy age, coeral with the birth of civiliza
ton, as it were), we shall feel the pang that
now unnerves thee, that racks thee, rends
thee, and We then, as thou now, shall in
woke the god of progress to let the bitter
cup pass from US.
Pity thee, SO we do-but thou art doom
ed. The fiat has gone forth that Kansas
must trade at home or beyond Missouri
We no longer intend to build up Nilsson
ri; and within one year-mark well the
date-the Kansas merchant, and dealer.
will buy his goods in Kansas or Chicago,
St, Louis, or the eastern border, Boston,
New York and other eastern cities.
Kansas men are proclaiming to Kansans
to buy in Kansas or beyond Missouri t2..sA1
We intend to build up Kansas To sus-
tain Missouri does not build up Kvnsas.
Saint Joe cannot sell goods in Kansas
and cannot be kept up by Missouri. What
.hep, is the natural result!
Saint joe with her thousand Of years of |
dleness and laZiness, cannot bv advertise
nent and work nor win to 1t live men
rom the east. The old rake never cor
'ects the error Of his youth, or abandons
lis vices. Saint Joe cannot now
Ipe the enterprise OF youth
md convince any one that It pos
esses the attributes that will make pros
,erous city any easier than the old man Of
ninety years, by donning the clothes Of
'euth, can convince us that there is In his
rame the fire and enthusiasm Of youth.
The fable of the ant and grasshopper"
3 the history Of Saint Joe.
There il nothing in nature that gives
ack youth to the aged, and this truth ap
lies to towns, and to Saint Joe, Missouri
own, with great force.
Saint Joe merchants can better afford to
1ove goods to Kansas and rent rooms than
D stay in ST. Joe in free rent buildings. !
nd the sooner they realize this truth the /,
etter. /
Saint Joe's advertisement can do US no
arm. Kansas City and ST. Louis are the
tiles whose influence in Kansas has been
1T st. Joe has ever been a mepdicant,
ependent on favors, permitted to exist by
and in five years will not have
line in the Associated Press dispstchea,'
i'd unless paid for by private subscription
i'll not have telegraph office: and Yet -.